Whose job is it to clear snow from bus stops?

Q: The sidewalk for the bus stop on Old Loudon Road in Latham for New Loudon Plaza, CDTA route #29, has not been cleared this winter. People are being forced to walk in the street.

For the last two storms, no one even plowed out the bus stopping area. All you could see is the top part of the wood fence behind the sidewalk. Who is responsible for clearing the sidewalk?

— Carl Green, Troy

A: As you can guess, the reader asked the question before the weather finally broke past the freezing point and the snow began melting. CDTA’s Margo Janack provided an answer.

“Snow removal at bus stops and surrounding areas is a cooperative effort between CDTA, local municipalities and property owners,” she said. “Generally, the municipalities help clear the roads, property owners help clear the sidewalks near their business or residence and CDTA clears the shelters.”

There are more than 300 bus shelters and more than 3,600 bus stops in the Capital Region to maintain, Janack said.

“CDTA crews are assigned to clear the shelters immediately after snowstorms starting their work at high volume locations first, and then advancing to other bus stops throughout the region,” she said. “Customers are encouraged to notify us at cdta@cdta.org if there are any issues they think should be addressed immediately.”

As for the stop you mentioned, Janack said, CDTA’s street amenities manager was consulted and found the shelter has been cleared out a few times this winter. A facilities technician was also sent to review the area and instructed to clear any debris found there.

3 Responses

CDTA needs to be far more vigilant on this – if you are elderly, handicapped, or otherwise not physically capable of climbing a mountain of snow between your bus shelter and the bus that is in the road, then it seems that you are out of luck. From a CDTA point of view, it’s bad-for-business if customers can’t board their busses without fear of breaking an ankle or a vertebrae.

Clearing snow from the boarding areas at bus stops should be Job #1 at ALL times during the winter season. Duh.

“As for the stop you mentioned, Janack said, CDTA’s street amenities manager was consulted and found the shelter has been cleared out a few times this winter. A facilities technician was also sent to review the area and instructed to clear any debris found there.”

You can see the bus stop signs and maybe one person can stand in the spot that’s cleared around the sign, but there is not a walk way to the sign nor adequate cleared space.

This is true all up and down Rt9 through Latham too. But who cares now, right?